1. HELPING CHEMISTS FIND JOBS IN A TOUGH MARKET. 2. TOWARDS A QUANTITATIVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE QUALITY OF THE CHEMISTRY JOB MARKET.

Friday, October 9, 2015

Invitation: Participate in the ACS PRES symposium on chemical employment

From the inbox, an invitation from Professor Donna Nelson (ACS president-elect):

At the ACS National Meeting in San Diego next March, my Task Force on Employment in the Chemical Sciences is having a symposium on its activities. One session in that symposium will be contributed posters. Each ACS member is invited to submit a poster to that symposium.

If you have ideas or experiences to contribute, please submit your poster in MAPS at http://maps.acs.org/ The deadline for submission is Oct 31st.

You are welcome to speak on any aspect of the problems related to employment. Some topics being addressed by the Task Force are:

What factors determine the balance between supply and demand?

What is the employment situation for technicians?

What are benefits and handicaps of possible certification, licensing, and registration of chemical professionals?

Do we prepare our graduates for jobs offered by industry?

What causes young graduate and mid-career chemical professional unemployment, and how can we help?

What is needed to increase underrepresented groups in the workforce?

What global factors influence the US employment situation? Problems of outsourcing and immigration?

Additional potential ACS member concerns will be addressed in contributed poster sessions on “Diversity – Quantification – Success” (the use of data to help diversify the chemical sciences with respect to race, ethnicity, and gender) and “Is there a Crisis in Organic Chemistry” (the anticipated reduction of enrollment in traditional organic chemistry classes).

Please take advantage of these sessions via your attendance, ideas, and participation; they are intended to be opportunities for discussion and member contributions.

8 comments:

It would be welcome if Professor Nelson would explicitly include the situation for doctoral-level chemists in her list of "topics being addressed by the Task Force" - and not just technicians.

I hope that we can agree that a caveat for participation in such a symposium is having the means for travel and accommodation in San Diego. In that context, those who are unemployed are at a disadvantage.

From the inbox, Prof. Nelson has instructions for submitting a poster:

The ACS website where abstracts are to be submitted is ready for you tosubmit your paper now. Please go to the website URL below and followthe instruction steps given below.

The following selections will give you access to the abstract submissionwebsite:Go to URL maps.acs.orgSelect 251st ACS National Meeting & Exposition, San Diego, CALogin using your ACS ID and password; create them if you need to.Select Submit or Edit an AbstractSelect Create new submission

The following steps will lead you through creating an abstract:1. Select PRES as program area2. Type your title and abstract3. Select POSTER ONLY as your presentation type4. Select DO NOT CONSIDER for Sci-Mix5. Select your symposium --Discussions with President's Task Force onEmployment6. Select I was specifically invited to submit this paper.7. Type in my name and email address as the person who invited you8. Select Are not applicable9. Agree to the next 4 criteria.10. Select your employment sector(s)11. View your proof and make corrections12. Submit your abstract

From a knowledgeable insider who is not Donna Nelson, on the organic chemistry mystery:

"...medical schools in 2010 pretty much agreed that two semesters of organic was one too many, so they moved to recommending only 1 (with lab). This year, 2015, the MCAT will begin testing on biochemistry — which was envisioned to be the substitute for that second semester of organic. So, I’d guess enrollments have dropped."